INSIDE THE N.B.A.; Smudges Abounding on the League's Image

By Liz Robbins

Published: December 12, 2004

Last week, Latrell Sprewell became the N.B.A.'s newest exemplar for ''The Player Who Still Does Not Get It.''

In October, when the Timberwolves offered him a $29 million contract extension, he objected to the amount, saying, ''I've got my family to feed.'' It became an infamous catchphrase for a league already battling image issues.

Last week, Sprewell shouted an obscenity -- the same one he spewed at the wife of the Madison Square Garden chairman, James L. Dolan, last December -- at a female fan who was heckling during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center.

Commissioner David Stern decided that fining Sprewell, as he did last December for $25,000, was not enough. Stern suspended Sprewell for one game without pay -- which amounted to $162,000 less for groceries.

Three weeks after Pacers players and Pistons fans brawled in suburban Detroit, the question of image, and how best to shape it, remains a prickly one for the N.B.A.

The National Basketball Players Association chief, Billy Hunter, acknowledged that the league was facing a litany of image problems, including criminal charges against Trail Blazers players (ranging from marijuana possession to animal abuse) and the coming civil trial for Kobe Bryant, whose criminal charge of sexual assault was dropped in September.

Hunter said the number of incidents had been increasing, influencing Stern's decision to hand out lengthy suspensions to the Pacers' Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal for their roles in the brawl.

''I believe the commissioner felt the players weren't heeding the punishments he was handing down,'' Hunter said Thursday after an attempt to reduce the suspensions at a grievance hearing, which N.B.A. officials did not attend. ''So if it meant sacrificing somebody on the altar, then Ron Artest presented himself and that's what he did, along with the other players.''

Charles Barkley was never shy with heckling fans and is still remembered for his 1991 spitting incident at Continental Arena; his misdirected saliva landed on an 8-year-old girl he later befriended. The league fined him $10,000.

''That was the best thing that happened to me,'' Barkley said. ''I told Ron this, you can lose it that quick. You play with a chip on your shoulder. You have to be really careful. All hell can break loose. If you play on the edge, if you fall off that cliff, it's over.''

Barkley commended Stern's swift action. He said he thought the suspensions were too long, but he said Stern had to do it. ''The N.B.A. has a double standard because fans are looking at a black league,'' said Barkley, now a TNT analyst. ''Larry Bird touched on it last year when he said the league needs more white players. America is not going to pay a lot of money to see black millionaires act the fool.

''At the same time, the players have got to understand that this is big business. It's about sponsors and about television.''

Antawn Jamison, the star forward for the Washington Wizards, said: ''Image goes a long way. We have to remember this is entertainment. A lot of families bring kids, and sometimes we can get out of whack, but we have to do our job.

''The only thing I'm disappointed about is that we tend to focus on negativity; we don't focus on a lot of the positive things we do. We have to put incidents behind us, we have to learn from them.''

McGrady's Miracle

In an eye-popping performance Thursday night in Houston, Tracy McGrady scored 13 points in the final 35 seconds to lead the Rockets to a comeback victory over the Spurs, arguably the best team in the league.

Houston General Manager Carroll Dawson, who has been in the N.B.A. for 26 years, said he had never seen circumstances and talent come together so dramatically -- not even Reggie Miller's 8 points in 18.7 seconds against the Knicks in the 1995 playoffs. ''Reggie was open on a lot of those shots,'' Dawson said. ''Bruce Bowen was guarding Tracy.''

McGrady made four 3-pointers, including a 4-point play on a foul by Tim Duncan and the winner over a double-team with 1.7 seconds left. Coach Jeff Van Gundy, not one for hyperbole, called the victory and performance a miracle.

Dawson said, ''If you're human, it has to affect you emotionally.'' If you're the one taking heat for the team's slow start after trading three starters for McGrady, it also affects you emotionally.

McGrady, the league's scoring champion last season with 30.1 points a game, is averaging only 22 points this season, and that includes his 48-point performance in a recent duel with the Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki. The Rockets have won three straight since that overtime loss at Dallas.

''Normally if you find a special player, you find ways to win in the end; Hakeem did that for us,'' Dawson said of Olajuwon. ''Tracy has a lot of those things.''

Buying Into the System

The Washington Wizards (11-6) are for real, Antawn Jamison said, and one reason is their coach, Eddie Jordan.

Jamison cited one telling conversation. ''He was talking about how we could improve,'' he said, but that wasn't the telling part. Jamison said Jordan was speaking from a hospital bed. ''That just shows what type of person and coach he is,'' he said.